Boss looks for cover to free Lewis

Gary Roberts is planning a raid on the professional ranks as he searches for defensive cover.

The Cambridge City manager has been forced to use midfielder Ieuan Lewis as an emergency right-back after Tom Pepper and Miles Smith broke an arm and a leg respectively.

And despite extending their unbeaten league run to eight by beating Hitchin 3-0 on Monday night, Roberts feels he needs to reinforce the ranks to maintain that good form.

"I’m looking to try to get a right-back in this week in time for Saturday because we definitely need some cover there," said Roberts, whose side host AFC Totton in the Evo-Stik League Southern, Premier Division.

"I can’t expect Ieuan to do that job, although he’s done it really well. I’d like to see him play further forward.

"To get a full-back in on a month’s cover isn’t going to cost us a lot of money, so we’ll look to talk to a couple of pro clubs and see how that goes."

City’s victory on Monday was achieved without Cambridge United loanees James Brighton and Luke Allen, who suffered whiplash in a car accident at the weekend.

Both could be back for the Totton game, but there was more bad news when Neil Midgley was forced off with a hamstring problem against Hitchin.